CBS Face the Nation Transcript

BOB SCHIEFFER, host: And joining us now in our continuing series of interviews with the people who are seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, Dick Gephardt of Missouri.

Mr. Gephardt, welcome to you. You were one of the first Democrats to support President Bush's use of military force in Iraq. Now we cannot seem to find the weapons of mass destruction. You heard the national security adviser just now. Do you feel in any way that you were had? Were you duped?

Representative DICK GEPHARDT (Democrat, Missouri; Presidential Candidate): Well, Bob, there--there is a long line of evidence going back to the early '90s that Saddam Hussein had lots of weapons of mass destruction and that he used them against his own people. The UN believed that. Hans Blix believed that; President Chirac, President Schroeder, certainly Bill Clinton and his administration and now this administration. If they were all duped or if they all didn't have the right information, then this is the most colossalful--colossal hype that ever was. I think...

SCHIEFFER: But you, in a sense, think you were--there was some hype there?

Rep. GEPHARDT: I--I--I don't know. We'll--we'll have an investigation in the Congress. We should. You should after any war review what happened, what the intelligence was and whether things were done right. But there is long, consistent, clear evidence that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, and I'm still convinced that we're going to find them.

SCHIEFFER: Do you think that your decision to support President Bush early on has hurt you with potential Democratic voters?

Rep. GEPHARDT: I don't know, Bob, but I felt from the beginning that our highest responsibility is to keep the people of this country safe. I told President Bush on October the 12th after the horror of--of--of--Se--September the 12th after September the 11th, I said, 'You've got to trust us, and we've got to trust you.' And that's what I've tried to do, and I think that's what we need to do when you're trying to keep people's lives safe. You can't bring politics into this. And I--and I've felt that from the beginning and I continue to feel that. This is about life and death. It's about keeping this country safe. We cannot have weapons of mass destruction used in this society, and we've all got to work together to the best of our ability to achieve that. Now if it has political ramifications, it has political ramifications, I don't care.

SCHIEFFER: Let's...

Rep. GEPHARDT: I'm going to do what I think is right.

SCHIEFFER: Let's talk about politics because we are going to have an election. You are running for the nomination. Hillary Clinton's book, as everyone who has not been under a rock for the last 20 years knows, is coming out this week. She's doing a big series of interviews. It'll be a big push. They've printed a million copies. Some people say any time you rehash any of the--of what went on during the Clinton administration, it hurts Democratic candidates in general. How do you feel about it?

Rep. GEPHARDT: I think Senator Clinton is doing great as senator. I think she is a leader in our party. We need her voice out there and she's doing a wonderful job at that. I think Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton are important voices in this co--in this party and in this country. And I welcome their contribution. I think they make us stronger.

I think they are--they did a--he did a great job with her as president. They did many important things, produced the best economy we've had in 50 years in this country and had, I think, a very sound foreign policy that accomplished some very important things. So I think they should be out there and I hope they will be out there as strong voices. We need strong voices from the Democratic Party at this very important time.

SCHIEFFER: So I take it you're going to ask them both to campaign with you?

Rep. GEPHARDT: I'd love to have them campaign with me, and when I'm the nominee, I'll ask for their help in--in a lot of different places.

SCHIEFFER: You say--do I take it that you believe that Bill Clinton is an asset to the Democratic Party?

Rep. GEPHARDT: Absolutely. Bill Clinton did a good job as president of this country, economically, domestically and in foreign policy. He was very, very adept at both and took big risk. We did that budget in 1993. We didn't get a Republican vote in the House or the Senate. We probably lost the Congress over partly that vote because it was a tough vote to take. He had courage. He led. He did the right things. It allowed the American people to produce the best economy we've had in this country in 50 years.

SCHIEFFER: Well, some would say that perhaps he did not set the best example, however.

Rep. GEPHARDT: I--I never said that he did everything right. I was very clear at the time all this business is going around impeachment, that he had not performed in the right way, and--and he knew that and he admitted that. But that doesn't take away from the job that he did as president of this country and he did a good job on many, many important issues that--right now you're seeing what happens when you get a different kind of leadership leading you in the wrong direction rather than the right directions.

SCHIEFFER: You have proposed, and you were the first Democrat to propose, a substantial plan for health care. Some of the other Democratic candidates immediately attacked it as being so expensive that it would never come to be. What I want to ask you about is one of the things that you proposed was to use what the administration had earmarked for tax cuts to finance this plan. Well, now by speeding up the tax cut as he has done, President Bush has already put those tax cuts into effect. So is it--is it not the case that if your plan is to be enacted, you'll have to raise taxes to do it and won't that be hard to do?

Rep. GEPHARDT: No. We--I believe that if you rescind the Bush tax cuts, which I will ask for in my first week as president, there will be adequate funds to fund my health-care plan. So this is a clear, bright-line choice for the American people. If you...

SCHIEFFER: But that's raising taxes, is it not?

Rep. GEPHARDT: Well, if you like the Bush tax cuts, if you think that's really the best thing for you, then vote for George Bush, but if you want health care that can never be taken away from you, then vote for me. This problem must be solved and people--I go all over the country. People are really worried about their health care. They're worried about losing it. They're worried about not being able to afford it. They're worried that--that their benefits are going to be eroded to the point where it won't mean anything. And if you don't have it in today's world, you're really in trouble.

I talk about when my son was sick with cancer and we met parents of other kids who had cancer who didn't have insurance. That is a terrif--we were terrified. They were doubly or triply terrified. We have got to solve this problem. When I'm president, we will.

SCHIEFFER: The Republican National Committee which keeps track of these things says you've now missed 85 percent of the votes in the House this year. One of the votes that you missed this past week was the one on banning late-term abortions, what some people call parth--partial-birth abortions. Would you have voted to ban that or not? What would your--what would your position have been on that?

Rep. GEPHARDT: My position is and has been that I would vote for a ban on late-term abortions. But I would insist on an exception for the health of the woman. I think that's very important, and I would--if I'm president, I would not sign a ban that did not contain that exception because I think that's vital.

SCHIEFFER: Talk a little bit about abortion and your position on it because it may well be that we'll see one of these Supreme Court justices announce his or her retirement this summer. Do you think abortion choice should be a litmus test for anyone selected to sit on the Supreme Court?

Rep. GEPHARDT: I think that you should try to pick judges who are balanced and fair and will stick with the precedents of the court and not try to be going off in new directions, plowing new ground. I think some of the candidates that this president is putting up, for both the Supreme Court and other courts, are really right-wing extreme judges who have right-wing extreme views and they would like to plow new ground in that area. For instance, I think that if George Bush can put a lot of new judges on the Supreme Court, Roe v. Wade is in danger. Seriously in danger. And...

SCHIEFFER: Well...

Rep. GEPHARDT: ...I don't--and I don't think those are the kind of judges that we need on the court. I think we ought to have balanced, fair judges who try to maintain the precedents of the court and not use it as a way to plow new ideological ground.

SCHIEFFER: As president, would you nominate someone to sit on the Supreme Court who was not pro-choice?

Rep. GEPHARDT: I don't think I would. Because I'd put on people that would have proper respect for the precedents of the court. And the court has said that choice is the law of the land.

SCHIEFFER: Mr. Leader, thank you so much for being with us.

Rep. GEPHARDT: Thank you.

SCHIEFFER: Hope to see you again down the trail.

Rep. GEPHARDT: Thank you.

SCHIEFFER: Back with a final word, just a minute.

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